The third time was the charm for head coach Vladimir Simic and the Missouri Valley College men’s soccer team.

Kainan Dos Santos scored a goal in each half, and goalkeeper Dusan Milosevic stopped seven shots, as the fourth-seeded Vikings upset No. 2-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan 2-0 to claim the Valley program’s first-ever national championship on the pitch at Blanchard Woods Park, north of Augusta, Georgia, on Monday night.

Valley, which had lost in the title match two other times in the past four seasons, had reached the championship match with a 4-2 upset of top-seeded and two-time defending national champion Central Methodist on Saturday.

The championship match was scoreless through the first 38-plus minutes of the first half, and then Dos Santos rebounded his own miss at the left post and pushed a shot past Eagles’ goalie Alex Vidizzoni with 6:01 to play before the break.

Despite a lot of pressure from the Eagles, the score stayed 1-0 through the first 30-plus minutes of the second half. Valley had a golden opportunity to make it 2-0, but Luka Gluscevic’s penaly kick was saved by Vidizzoni at the 76:25 mark.

However, Dos Santos scored again off an assist from Paulo Alves with 3:54 left in regulation to give the Vikings the cushion they needed.

The Eagles only managed one shot on goal the rest of the way.

Dos Santos finished the season with 18 goals and 43 total points, including five goals and four assists in the national postseason tournament. Alves added his seventh assist, and Aleksandar Trujic assist No. 11. Milosevic recorded his sixth shutout of the season and second in the national tournament.

Four Vikings were named to the All-Tournament Team: Gluscevic, Dos Santos, Trujic and Gianmarco Donnini. Dos Santos was named the Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the Tournament. Donnini was named the Most Outstanding Defender of the Tournament. And Gluscevic was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.

Valley finishes its season at 18-4-2 and Oklahoma Wesleyan 21-3-1.

Simic has a 20-8-2 overall record in the National tournament in 10 appearances.

The soccer program becomes the fifth program in school history to win a National championship, joining men’s wrestling (1996, 1997, 2003), cheer (2001, 2013, 2018), women’s wrestling (2001) and football (1947).

Photo courtesy Missouri Valley College.